Manufacture of ice



May 6, 1952 L. L. MCCOY MANUFACTURE OF ICE Filed Feb. 19, 1948 UL TRA o/V/ V/JRA To HrroR/VEKS.

Patented May 6, 1952 MAN IJFACTURE OF ICE Lloyd L. McCoy, St. Louis, Mo., -assigner to Ball Ice Machine C0., St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application February 19, 1948, Serial No. 9,529

(ol. s2-19s) 4 Claims.

Y The present invention relates to the manufacture of ice.

In the manufacture of ice, one of the problems is the possibility of freezing air bubbles into the blocks of ice that are ultimately produced by the ice making machine. In domestic ice machines, this'problem has not been solved. In commercial machines, it has been attacked by flowing air through the water in the ice cans during the freezing operation. The purpose of this iiow of air is to agitate the water, during the freezing operation, suiciently to permit the air bubbles to escape, which they will do to a major extent by passing out of the top of the cans.

The foregoing system has disadvantages that are obvious, and it is a broad object of this invention to overcome these disadvantages.

The present invention has au object to agitate the water within the cans by a means that may be external to the cans, and that, in any case, does not require the introduction of a gaseous medium into the water for liquid being frozen. f More particularly, it is an object of the invention to employ ultrasonic vibrators to impart ultrasonic waves to the liquid in the water cans of the ice machine, and thereby vibrate the water in suchwise as to cause expulsion of absorbed air.

The drawing represents a more or less schematic section of a commercial ice machine embodying the present invention.

While the specification to follow refers to a type of commercial ice machine, it will be evident that the invention is applicable to other commercial types, and to domestic types.

The machine, as diagrammatically illustrated, has an outer tank I that is adapted to contain brine B. The brine tank may be provided with the usual drain line Il.

The tank has a plurality of longitudinally disposed beams I2, I3, I4, I and I6 that are designed to support the ice cans I1, of which four are shown solely to illustrate the present invention. The usual ice machine has many more. The adjacent pairs of beams, such as the beams I3 and I4, are grooved lengthwise to provide facing ledges that will support flanges at the top of the several ice cans. By this arrangement, the cans II may be inserted from the top of the tank I0 and will be supported by their upper flanges. The outside beams I2 and I6 are usually slightly spaced inwardly from the Walls of the tank I0, although this arrangement is subject to wide variation in the ice industry.

In order to introduce air into the ice cans, the alternate beams, such as the beams I3 and I5, carry air conduits 2i) and 2l. These are normally fed from an air source 22 that leads from a compressor to a header from which the several pipes 2Q and 2l emanate. Each can is provided with a branch pipe 23 or 24, as the case may be, these branch pipes leading from the main pipes and 2| on opposite sides thereof. A suitable coupling 25 is provided at the top of each can I1, and an extension 26` depends fromthis coupling into the cans. The coupling permits the cans to be removed after the water within them has been frozen.

The illustrated type of ice machine includes a valved refrigerant inlet pipe 30 that leads to a plurality of coils 32 immersed within the brine B adjacent the several cans I'I. An outlet refrigerant line 3l conducts the refrigerant out from the tank I0. It will be understood that a suitable refrigerating machine is attached to the two lines 30 and 3| in one of the conventional manners.

Lids 33 and 34 are employed to cover the top of the cans in the usual manner.

The foregoing ice machine is merely intended to be illustrative of a commerical ice producing plant. Of course, the sectional view shows only one row of cans, but it will be understood that there are a plurality of rows behind and in front of the row illustrated.

In the conventional ice machine, the cans I'I are lled with water, and, when the ice machine is running, the refrigerant passing through the coils 32 cools the brine that surrounds the cans. The water within the cans is thereby caused to freeze. However, the air within the several cans II tends to form into small bubbles that will cloud the ice unless suitable means are employed to eliminate this air. The conventional means is to bubble air through the water as the freezing takes place to agitate the water. Such agitation causes the air to escape from the top of the cans I'I.

The disadvantages of such a system of agitation are obvious, and the present invention is designed to overcome them.

The vibration of the water by ultrasonic waves eliminates the air and settles out impurities toward the center and ultimately the top of the ice blocks Within the cans II, without the use of air. One or more such vibrators may be used. One of the vibrators is shown at 40 mounted in the wall of the tank IIJ, so that it will vibrate through the brine, and ultimately to the water. These high frequency vibrations are thus imparted to the Water in the cans l1 through the medium of the brine. Another vibrator 4I is shown as applied to the pipe 22 that leads into the air lines, and ultimately will transmit the vibrations through the air line connections into the water, so that the vibrator may be used as an 'adjunct to the air if desired. However, it is preferable to eliminate the air entirely, so that the vibrator 4l attached to these lines illustrates the introduction of the ultrasonic vibrations into the water by a direct conducting medium. In other Words, where the ultrasonic vibrator 4I is employed, the air lines are not used as air lines, but merely as conductors entering the water itself.

A third vibrator 42 is shown as applied to one of the refrigerant lines that leads to the coils 32. As illustrated, the vibrator 42 is applied to the refrigerant inlet line 3U. This causes conduction of the ultrasonic Waves to the coils 32, and thence ultimately through the brine and the cans I'I to the Water within them.

The foregoing use of one or more ultrasonic vibrators thus eliminates the necessity of passing the air through the water, or eliminates the necessity of employing other means to agitate the water in the cans I1 to prevent the production of white ice by the entrainment of air particles.

It does so Without the use of internal moving parts, and it affords external control for regulating frequency and intensity to suit the conditions, as they may vary in any particular machine at any time. It also is faster in its action, because the very high number of vibrations per second tends to cause the air to be expelled rapidly, and thereafter the freezing can take place without the air being present.

It will be understood that the drawing of the ice machine is illustrative. There are a number of other commercial types of ice machines, but they all, along With domestic refrigerators, employ cans or equivalent containers for the manufacture of ice, and they all employ mediums such as those illustrated through which the ultrasonic vibrations can be conducted to the Water. The dispositions of the vibrators is illustrativer as the waves may be transmitted through any conducting lnedium to the Water in the cans. The direct conduction is typified by the vibrator 4l, but it will be understood that this vibrator could be mounted on other parts, such as the cans themselves, or the can grids, or baskets frequently used to permit group handling of the cans. The vibrator 40 illustrates a preferred location, but it could be above the Water line, in which case initially the Waves would pass through air.

What is claimed is:

1. In a method of manufacturing ice, the steps of subjecting liquid in a container to a freezing medium to freeze the same, applying ultrasonic vibrations to the liquid during the freezing operation and penetrating the liquid with the vibrations las the liquid freezes.

2. In a method of manufacturing ice, the steps of immersing a container of liquid to be frozen into a bath of refrigeratng liquid in a tank, applying ultrasonic vibrations to the refrigerating liquid inthe tank during the freezing of the liquid to be frozen.

3. In a method of making ice, the steps of immersing a can of liquid to be frozen into a refrigerating medium, to freeze the liquid, introducingk a vibration conductor into the liquid to be frozen, and applying ultrasonic vibrations to the conductor and thereby causing them to be transmitted to the liquid to be frozen.

4. In a method of making ice, the steps of introducing a can of liquid to be frozen adjacent a coil of a refrigerating machine, applying ultrasonic vibrations to the coil, and thereby conducting them to the liquid to be frozen.

LLOYD L. MCCOY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,734,975 Loomis Nov. 12, 1929 1,738,565 Claypoole Dec. 10, 1929 1,804,220 Lange May 5, 1931 2,028,806 Rechtin Jan. 28, 1936 2,086,891 Bachmann July 13, 1937 2,127,193 Toulmin Aug. 16, 1938 2,138,052 Williams NOV. 29, 1938 2,163,650 Weaver June 27, 1939 2,247,903 Brace July 1, 1941 2,247,904 Brace July 1, 1941 2,447,061 Franklin Aug. 17, 1948 

